Baseball Game Preview: Merced Bears vs. Atwater Falcons

For the second straight game, Merced will face off against Atwater. The Bears will face off against the Falcons at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Merced has given up an average of 7.7 runs per game this season, but Wednesday's game will give them a chance to turn things around.

Merced came into this matchup off a tough eight-run loss on Friday. This time they kept things ultra-competitive, but unfortunately the final result was the same. They fell just short of Atwater by a score of 13-11 on Monday. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest defeat the Bears have suffered since March 8, 2024.

Luis Pineda

Runs

03/31/25 vs Atwater	3
03/19/25 vs Los Banos	2
02/20/25 @ Livingston	2
03/21/25 @ Los Banos	1
03/11/25 vs Enochs	1

Luis Pineda made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and scored three runs while getting on base in three of his five plate appearances. He has become a key player for Merced: the team is 2-1 when he posts at least two runs, but 3-9 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Bryce Jimenez, who scored two runs while going 3-for-5.

This is the second loss in a row for Merced and nudges their season record down to 5-10. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.5 runs over those games. As for Atwater, their win bumped their record up to 10-6.